Seatbelts for school buses in $200m program

Transport Reporter

Safety: Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said seatbelts on school buses were "important to communities in regional and rural areas". Photo: Janie Barrett

Almost half the buses that transport children to school in rural and regional NSW will not be fitted with seatbelts despite the O’Farrell government announcing a $208 million safety upgrade over the next decade.

The upgrade means buses that solely transport children to and from school – and do not do other runs during the day, or are not hired for school excursions – will gradually be fitted with seatbelts.

But that means buses running on some of the more dangerous routes in the state, including on some undivided sections of the Pacific Highway, will not be upgraded.

On Tuesday, Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian and Roads Minister Duncan Gay released their response to a report by a School Bus Safety Advisory Committee, which they set up more than two years ago.

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The Committee recommended introducing seatbelts on all rural and regional school buses within a decade. But Ms Berejiklian and Mr Gay will introduce seatbelts on only 1700 so-called Contract A buses.

Another 1580 Contract B buses – which are on average older, but which are also used by bus companies for other jobs during the day – will not be upgraded.

A campaigner for seatbelts on regional bus routes, Jan Gill of the North Coast Parents Bus Action Group, said she welcomed the recognition by the government of the importance of seatbelts.

But the announcement did not appear to capture the bus her child travels on, which runs along an undivided section of the Pacific Highway near Urunga that was identified last week by the NRMA as the worst stretch of road in the state.

‘‘I would’ve thought that was a very high risk route,’’ Ms Gill said.

Spokesman for the School Transport Action Group Peter Rodgers said ‘‘something’s better than nothing’’ but thought that the ten-year timeframe should be reduced to five years.

The former NSW Greens MP, Cate Faehrmann, who has campaigned on the issue, said she was glad the O’Farrell government had done something for bus safety but feared it was ‘‘cutting corners.’’

‘‘You would think travelling on school excursions would be something that parents would want their kids would be buckled up for,’’ Ms Faehrmann said.

The government explained its decision to limit the bus upgrades to Contract A buses by saying it would not have been able to control the scope of any other program. Extending the upgrade to Contract B buses meant it would ‘‘also cover all buses chartered by schools or even buses owned by local clubs’’.

Mr Gay said: “The former Labor government achieved absolutely nothing on this issue and once again it is the NSW Liberals and Nationals who not only do the hard work but deliver for the people of NSW.”